Linda Eder ' I Am What I Am'

She's tall, beautiful and has a voice that could fill a big barn (a location where she feels just as comfortable as on stage). From working in Atlantic City lounge clubs six nights a week to three sold out solo concerts at Carnegie Hall, Linda Eder has proven that persistance and singing well can really be a wonderful thing.

Linda appears for the third consecutive year at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center, where she previously christened it's premier opening in June of 2002.

Making her musical debut on TV's Star Search where she not only blew away the competition in the 13-week session but also met her husband-to be, composer Frank Wildhorn. This has grown to be a mutually lucrative collaboration from a musical standpoint as well.

It's not everyday that a unique singer can be affiliated with a composer who writes popular music just for them to take on a maiden voyage. Making her Broadway debut in Jekyll & Hyde, Eder also shares her glorious voice on CD in Wildhorn's other Broadway shows, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Civil War and also sang and starred in the Broadway bound Camille Claudel, his recent show based on a true life story of the French sculpturess.

Tonight was Linda's night to shine, and to sing in a familiar theater where they certainly knew her and comes from many miles to enjoy her again. The audience was delighted by her everyday stories about herself, her family life, her Westchester farm and her animals and amazed at how this "non-diva" can transform into a "just shy of six-foot tall" singing sensation.

From the moment she stepped on stage in a long, black, fitted dress with traces of sequins and sheers, she immediately connected to this warm and welcoming crowd.  Opening with her standard "I Am What I Am," you could tell that she felt the excitement and familiarity that permeates the theater. She expressed how much she loves working so close to home and moved right into a medley of "Come Rain or Come Shine/On The Street Where You Live/What Kind of Fool Am I."

With seven solo CD's in her lineup, choosing songs is hardly a struggle for this singer who seems to possess a diaphragm the length of a saxophone, which she uses to compete in a note holding contest with the band and often wins. The concert however, is based around Linda singing the songs she loves and by those she admires; great singers such as Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and Celine Dion (all of whom with which she has been compared.)

In Act Two Linda settled into talking about the story of Camille Claudel, which premiered in Connecticut last summer, as she shared the piano seat with her long time friend and musical director Jeremy Roberts. She next offered the softer side of her soul by offering two touching songs from the same titled show "A Woman In His Arms" and "What's Never Been Done Before," which connects to the audience as she displays her obvious emotional connection to the character.

With the familiar opening notes Linda recharges herself with rousing renditions of "Don't Rain On My Parade" and "Man Of La Mancha." She also shared a unique version of a song written by lyricist Leslie Bricusse of Jekyll & Hyde fame called "When I Look In Your Eyes," a song that was written for the movie Dr. Doolittle starring Rex Harrison and actually sung to a seal!

 

She finished her evening with two encores, "Someone Like You" from Jekyll and Hyde and what has become her signature ending "If I Had My Way", which always leaves her misty eyed. Needless to say, if three is a charm, then this audience has been captured a third time by a unique lady who is as comfortable on a tractor as singing in front of a thousand people.

Linda Eder appeared at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center on September 4, 2004.  For information and upcoming shows visit: www.sjtheater.com or call 856.983.3366.

Photo credit: www.lindaeder.com

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